People in our church often let me know they are praying for me, and I am deeply grateful. Sometimes people ask for specifics on how they should pray for the pastor. At a recent meeting with our church’s Pastor’s Prayer Partners, we gave out the following acrostic with the prayer needs of a pastor:

Personal life—walk with God, family
Administration—counseling, leadership
Study—time, message preparation
Trials—grace, growth
Oversight—church ministries, care for the flock
Resources—strength, wisdom, building projects

I’m very thankful for the intercessory prayer of our people. James 5:16 promises, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”!

(Note: The Pastor’s Prayer Partners is a ministry in our church for which I am deeply grateful. One of our assistant pastors organizes this group so each person has a partner. These faithful intercessors work out a time to meet each week with their partner and pray for me, my family, and our church. A couple of times a year, we have a group meeting to re-partner and include new members.)

This is part two of this article. You can read part one here. We’ve already seen from Acts 13 that the context of God’s strategy for missions is the local church and that He calls Christians who are already engaged in service.  Let’s see one more step in this biblical strategy.

The Commencement of Missions

It wasn’t enough for the missionaries at Antioch to be called—the church had to send them to the field. It does the heathen little good if the church is full of called missionaries. The sending step is crucial. (more…)

Two thousand years ago, Christ delivered the marching orders for the local church: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). With nearly seven billion people in the world, separated by political, cultural, and linguistic boundaries, this is a staggering mission.

How can we accomplish this Great Commission? Is there a technique or element of technology we can use to boost our success stats? What should be our strategy? (more…)

In an era when we often hear speech about tolerance, were learning more and more that tolerance is really a myth with many leaders in our country today. These leaders seem to be intolerant towards the unborn, conservative Christians, and the very name of Jesus Christ.

Just this past week, such intolerance was expressed when an invitation to Evangelist Franklin Graham to lead prayer for a National Day of Prayer service in the Pentagon was rescinded. Why did the Pentagon withdraw their invitation? Because of Graham’s beliefs of the Islamic faith and his stand on the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Graham himself believes the Pentagon sought counsel of the White House in these actions.

USA Today reported from an interview with Graham: “Graham reiterated his belief that ‘Muslims do not worship the same God the Father I worship.’” Newsmax.com quoted Graham’s explanation of this incident: “‘I’m being restricted from my religious rights, and from what I believe,’ Graham warned, as he complained of a growing ‘secularization’ in the government.”
(Follow these links to read complete USA Today and Newsmax.com articles.)

Every independent Baptist and indeed, every Bible believer should be concerned with the treatment of Franklin Graham. We should pray for our land, and stand together to proclaim Christ, to pray in our public places, and distribute the good news.

Prayer is the amazing line God has provided for direct access to His throne. D.L. Moody once said, “Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.” Truly, it is a resource we should avail ourselves of continually.

Sometimes, however, we jam this line of communication and prohibit our prayers from being answered. Dr. John R. Rice often spoke of the hindrances to prayer. Below is a list of seven. (more…)